"The answer is Love and Compassion for all Humanity."
Bill Pelke, founder

Friday, 7 October 2011

Nakupenda...

We are sitting on the KLM airliner headed to Amsterdam.
The plane is only half full and the three of us have monopolized the back two rows of our section. As I write Charity and 2TT’s Bill are practicing pronunciation of Swahil,i words Bill has brought along.

As we were going over Bill’s list the flight attendant stopped by and expressed an interest in what we were doing. By the end of her ten minute visit with us we had explained why we were going to Africa and parts of each of our stories.
We shared information and our flyers on the Journey of Hope, The ELLA Foundation, and Dream One World. Dream.

One World’s flyer is about Edwards’s orphanage.

Speaking with her about our reason for traveling to Africa was very cool.
We have another fan and supporter. She then told others attendants and several stopped by to wish us well.

This morning at the hotel where Bill and I spent the night in Dallas we were joined by Charity, Rais
Bhuiyan and Gennifer Kaye. Rick Halperin was supposed to have joined us but his Dean at SMU had
called for an emergency meeting so Rick was not able to come.
I have known Rick for over 20 years and it is always good to see him, so I was disappointed but understood.
When we return from Africa, Charity and I will participate in the 12th annual march against executions on October 22 in Austin. Rick plans to meet us there so at least I will see him on this trip.

It was great to meet Rais, a man who has really impressed me with his story of forgiveness and
reconciliation. It was a real honor. It was also great to meet Gennifer Kaye, a human rights activist with
Amnesty International from Dallas.
Gennifer is a friend of Rick and Rais and has become friends with Charity through Facebook. Charity had dinner with them last night before Bill and I arrived.

The trip has started like clockwork, like it was a trip that was meant to be. Several more donations have
come in from James, Jenni, Aleksandra and Peter since the trip started.
James and Jennifer also paid for lunch and breakfast respectively.

I was worried about our connection once we got to Nairobi because we only had one hour to catch our next flight to Uganda, and since we would have to retrieve our luggage, go through customs and then catch the last flight of the night to Entebbe, Uganda it was a tight schedule.
Fortunately the KLM agent was able to check our baggage all the way to Uganda. So we had no longer to worry.

I was able to talk with Randy Gardner before we got on the plane.
He will arrive in Uganda about 36 hours after we do.
We will be the four musketeers at that point and our team will be together.

Also we were able to talk with Sister Margaret who serves with Sister Helen Prejean.
She wished us God’s blessing on our Journey. If God be for us who can be against us? Although I missed the Faith in Action program in Anchorage yesterday, my preacher, Ron Meyers, talked about our Journey and hold a prayer for it.
Amen.

How wonderful to have a pastor who feels the same way about the death penalty as I do,
and he is supportive of my work?

Blessings to all who read the Journey of Hope diary and blog.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

This trip was meant to be, each of our life’s journeys has brought us to this point.
It was no accident.
The stars are all in alignment.

Bill Pelke

Bill Pelke, Anchorage AK -- Bill authored a book entitled Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing, which details the May 14, 1985 murder of his grandmother Ruth Elizabeth Pelke, a Bible teacher, by four teenage girls. Paula Cooper who was deemed to be the ringleader was sentenced to die in the electric chair by the state of Indiana. She was fifteen-years-old at the time of the murder. Pelke originally support the sentence of death for Cooper, but went through a spiritual transformation in 1986 after praying for love and compassion for Paula Cooper and her family. He became successfully involved in an international crusade on Paula's behalf and in 1989 her sentenced was commuted to sixty years in prison. Over 2 million people from Europe, mostly Italy, signed petitions that Paula be removed from death row. Pope John Paul II’s request for mercy, Paula was taken off of death row and her sentence commuted to sixty years. Bill, a retired steelworker, has dedicated his life to working for abolition of the death penalty. He shares his story of forgiveness and compassion and the healing power of forgiveness. Pelke has traveled to over forty states and ten countries with the Journey of Hope and has told his story thousands of timesFactsPresident and Co-founder of Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing; Chair - PresentBoard Member Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing; 1997-PresentBoard: National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; 1996-Present Chair 2004-08 Founding Board Member of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights 2004Board Member MVFHR; 2004-PresentIncorporator of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation;1993Board Member MVFR; 1991-1998Board Member; Alaskans Against the Death Penalty Cofounder Abolitionist Action Committee; 1993 Author: Journey of Hope…from Violence to HealingLinks to Bill's JourneyThe Hard Road to Forgiveness - Yes Magazine - Mary Sue PennMoving Towards Abolition - The Witness Some murder victims' kin reject capital punishment; others endorse the sanction - Richmond Times-DispatchIn Memory of James V. Allridge IIIBill Pelke's portrait at "Our friends in prison"The Optimism Club - Bill Pelke "Forgiveness vs revenge"Interview with Swiss organization "Lifespark"the greatest part of God’s love is the forgiveness that

George White

George White, ALOn February 27, 1985 in Enterprise, Alabama, George was living his little piece of the American Dream. Husband of Charlene and father of Tom and Christie, he was a successful, business-degreed executive, Sunday school teacher, little league coach and PTA president -- a yuppie in southeast Alabama. That evening everything changed.When George, vice-president of Townsend Building Supply, Inc., and his wife, Char, stopped at his store after business hours, they thought they were doing a favor for a man who urgently needed an item for an emergency home repair. Instead, they experienced firsthand the insanity and horror of murder. A masked gunman entered the building and shot the pair repeatedly during an armed robbery. George suffered gunshot wounds to his left arm, thigh and abdomen during a struggle with the gunman. Following emergency surgery, George survived. His wife was not so lucky. Char was pronounced dead at the hospital after sustaining two gunshot wounds to the head. Tom and Christie were only twelve and five at the time of their mother's death. The nightmare had only just begun.Sixteen months later George was charged with the murder of his wife. The State sought the death penalty, and, following a trial that was later characterized as a mockery and a sham, George was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Incarcerated for a total of two years, one hundred and three days, the conviction was overturned in 1989. George remained in legal limbo for nearly three more years. On April 10, 1992, the prosecution asked that the charge be forevermore dismissed when the proof of George's innocence finally surfaced. The trial court so ruled. The ordeal had lasted for more than seven years.As a survivor of a violent crime, husband of a murder victim, suspect, accused, indigent defendant, convicted murderer, and innocent man exonerated, George understands fully how easy it would be to advocate revenge. However, as a family the Whites reject the death penalty as a solution to heal the wounds of their loss. George says, "I believe that society's laws must offer relief for a victim's anger and loss, and we must be afforded protection from those who would harm us; however, one cannot stop the shedding of blood by causing more blood to be shed. No amount of killing would restore Char to my family or take away the pain of losing her. What began with a horrible act ofviolence should not be memorialized with an act of vengeance." By Abe BonowitzFactsJourney of Hope Cofounder Journey of Hope Board Member 1997-2003; 2006-Journey Ambassador MVFR Board Member 1994-1998

Readers

Journey of Hope... from Violence to Healing Texas Tour 2010

Bill Pelke

Bill Pelke, Anchorage AKBill authored a book entitled Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing, which details the May 14, 1985 murder of his grandmother Ruth Elizabeth Pelke, a Bible teacher, by four teenage girls. Paula Cooper who was deemed to be the ringleader was sentenced to die in the electric chair by the state of Indiana. She was fifteen-years-old at the time of the murder. Pelke originally support the sentence of death for Cooper, but went through a spiritual transformation in 1986 after praying for love and compassion for Paula Cooper and her family. He became successfully involved in an international crusade on Paula's behalf and in 1989 her sentenced was commuted to sixty years in prison. Over 2 million people from Europe, mostly Italy, signed petitions that Paula be removed from death row. Pope John Paul II’s request for mercy, Paula was taken off of death row and her sentence commuted to sixty years. Bill, a retired steelworker, has dedicated his life to working for abolition of the death penalty. He shares his story of forgiveness and compassion and the healing power of forgiveness. Pelke has traveled to over forty states and ten countries with the Journey of Hope and has told his story thousands of timesFactsPresident and Co-founder of Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing; Chair - PresentBoard Member Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing; 1997-PresentBoard: National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; 1996-Present Chair 2004-08 Founding Board Member of Murder Victims Families for Human Rights 2004Board Member MVFHR; 2004-PresentIncorporator of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation;1993Board Member MVFR; 1991-1998Board Member; Alaskans Against the Death Penalty Cofounder Abolitionist Action Committee; 1993 Author: Journey of Hope…from Violence to HealingLinks to Bill's JourneyThe Hard Road to Forgiveness - Yes Magazine - Mary Sue PennMoving Towards Abolition - The Witness Some murder victims' kin reject capital punishment; others endorse the sanction - Richmond Times-DispatchIn Memory of James V. Allridge IIIBill Pelke's portrait at "Our friends in prison"The Optimism Club - Bill Pelke "Forgiveness vs revenge"Interview with Swiss organization "Lifespark"the greatest part of God’s love is the forgiveness that love brings.”